1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to underwater acoustic measurement systems and, more particularly, to acoustic Doppler current profilers used to measure wave directional spectra and surface wave height.
2. Description of the Related Technology
The use of Doppler sonar to measure currents in a fluid medium is well established. Conventional acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) typically use an array of acoustic transducers arranged in the well known Janus configuration. This configuration consists of four acoustic beams, paired in orthogonal planes. The ADCP measures the component of velocity projected along the beam axis, averaged over a range cell whose beam length is roughly half that of the emitted acoustic pulse. Since the mean current is assumed to be horizontally uniform over the beams, its components can be recovered simply by differencing opposing beams. This procedure is relatively insensitive to contamination by vertical currents and/or unknown instrument tilts.
The analysis of waves in a fluid medium is much more complicated, however. Although the wave field is statistically stationary and homogeneous, at any instant of time the wave velocity varies across the array and as a result it is not possible to separate the measured along-beam velocity into horizontal and vertical components on a sample-by-sample basis. If one sonar beam is vertical, then the frequency spectra in the can be separated, and a crude estimate of direction obtained from the ratio of horizontal velocity spectra. But phase information is irrevocably lost through this procedure and the estimate is substantially biased when the waves are directionally spread. As a result, this estimator is not particularly useful, except perhaps in the case of swell. There is, however, phase information in the cross-correlations between the various range bins, and this fact allows the application of conventional signal processing techniques to estimate wave direction.
The wave directional spectrum (WDS) is a mathematical representation of the wave direction as a function of azimuth angle and wave frequency, which is useful in describing the physical behavior of waves within the fluid medium. The most common existing devices used to obtain wave directional spectra are 1) pitch, and roll buoys, and 2) PUV triplets, described in further detail below.
Pitch and roll buoys typically measure tilt in two directions as a surrogate for wave slope, along with the vertical component of acceleration. A recent variation uses GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements of three velocity components instead. The measured time series are Fourier transformed and the auto- and cross-spectra are formed, resulting in a cross-spectral matrix at each frequency. The elements of the cross-spectral matrix are directly related to the first five Fourier coefficients in direction (through 2.theta.) of the wave directional spectrum at each frequency (see Appendix A1). These buoys are typically used in deeper water. Unfortunately, the transfer finctions for these buoys are complex, non-linear, and often difficult to determine. Additionally, the presence of a mooring line for the buoys adds additional complexity to the analysis due to added motion. Furthermore, such buoys are comparatively costly, vulnerable to weather and theft, and are not capable of measuring currents or wave heights.
PUV triplets (so named due to their measurement of pressure and both components of horizontal velocity, namely u and v) are basically single point electromagnetic current meters having an integral pressure transducer. Time series of pressure and horizontal velocity from PUV triplets are processed in a manner similar to the measurements made by pitch and roll and GPS buoys, also giving only the first five Fourier coefficients in direction at each frequency. PUV triplets are typically bottom mounted, and generally only useful in shallow water. This significant disability is due to the decrease in high frequency response resulting from the decay of wave velocity and pressure with increased water depth.
FIG. 1 illustrates a third and less common prior art technique for measuring wave directional spectrum employed by Krogstad, et al (see "High Resolution Directional Wave Spectra from Horizontally Mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Meters," Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 5, No. 4, August 1988) as part of the CUMEX (Current Measurement Experiment) program. This technique utilizes an acoustic Doppler sonar system having a transducer array mounted on an underwater structure. The array is configured with sets of horizontally oriented acoustic transducers which project two acoustic beams in a horizontal plane 90 degrees apart. Beam propagation is therefore essentially parallel to the surface of the water, and skims the surface of the water as the beam disperses. Such a surface skimming geometry provides a relatively dense and uniform set of time lagged echoes and therefore permits estimation of the joint frequency-wavenumber spectrum S(f,k). See "Open Ocean Surface Wave Measurement Using Doppler Sonar," Pinkel, R. and J. A. Smith, J. Geophys., Res. 92, 1987. Specifically, the directional spectrum D(.theta.) is expanded into a Fourier series, the coefficients of which are determined from the cross-spectral coefficient matrices generated from data obtained by the system. Since the acoustic beams are horizontal, no vector quantity (i.e., sensitivity vector) relating the beam geometry to the received current data is necessary. This technique is well suited to applications requiring only wave direction measurements and where a large, stable platform, such as a tower or large spar buoy, is available. However, there are a large number of applications, particularly in coastal oceanography and engineering, where it is desirable to know both the wave direction and vertical current profile, which the horizontal beam system can not provide. These applications include the analysis of sediment transport, atmosphere/sea interaction, pollutant dispersal, and hydrodynamic forces on off-shore structures. Additionally, it may be desirable in certain situations to simultaneously obtain wave height data along with the direction and current data. Due to the beam geometry, horizontal beam systems also are unable to measure current velocity above the wave troughs, which may be useful for studies of wave kinematics.
In summary, existing wave direction measurement techniques generally have several significant drawbacks (depending on type) including 1) inability to measure fluid current velocity and/or wave height along with WDS, 2) inability to readily measure wave directional spectrum at a broad range of depths; 3) inability to measure velocity profile above the wave troughs, 4) high degree of non-linearity; 5) high cost relative to the data obtained therefrom; and 6) susceptibility to damage/degradation from surface or near-surface influences.
Accordingly, a system and method for accurately measuring the wave directional spectrum and current profile in a broad range of water depths is needed by both commercial entities and researchers. Such a system and method would further allow the optional measurement of wave height in conjunction with WDS. Additionally, the system would be highly linear in response, physically compact and largely self-contained in design, and could be deployed in a number of different scenarios such as being bottom mounted, moored, or even mounted on a mobile submerged platform. The flexibility of configurations permits the user to have the maximum degree of operational flexibility and device longevity without significantly impacting performance or accuracy. Additional benefits of economy would be obtained through the use of commercially available off-the-shelf broadband or narrowband sonar equipment where practical.